Symantec Norton Internet Security 2007 Full Version for PC Review

Early this year I sought a commercial, well-recognized anti-virus solution for my PC because my company's VPN wouldn't allow me to logon with the smaller-name AV software I had been using. It required one of the "big names" to be loaded, so I chose Symantec Norton Internet Security 2007 and downloaded the software to my computer for a price of $70.

My patience with this program ran out after just two months. I felt like my computer had been completely enslaved. In fact, ironically, Symantec Norton Internet Security 2007 made my computer behave as if it had been infected with a terrible virus!

My Experience with Symantec Norton Internet Security 2007
I purchased the product online on January 23rd, directly from the Symantec website. It installed easily and I installed the program to run with all of its default settings. I followed Symantec's recommendations to disable the native Security Center within Windows to prevent any conflicts between the two environments.

I immediately noticed a slowdown in the performance of my Windows XP computer. Starting up programs took twice as long. Starting up my computer became a tedious fifteen minute process. And suddenly, cold restarts of my computer became frequent, as without warning all incoming network connectivity would be blocked. Checking the logfiles within Norton confirmed that only outgoing traffic was being allowed, but strangely there were never any errors. Repairing my network connection didn't fix the problem. Disabling and re-enabling the interface didn't work. Checking "ipconfig" everything would look fine. The only solution? Restarting the computer.

After downloading Symantec Norton Internet Security 2007 I went from having to fully restart my computer about once a week, to having to shut it down completely and restart it 5+ times a week.

General system and network performance weren't the only things affected, either. Specific programs started behaving badly. iTunes began hanging at startup, and I would have to kill off the process several times before it ran cleanly. I couldn't start Microsoft Word by double-clicking on a document to edit it. Instead I would have to open up Word from the Programs menu, and then open my document from the File menu. I was stumped by this behavior until a search of the Norton Internet Security logfile showed that Norton Internet Security was logging repeated blocking of the Microsoft Word application! And it was doing this, even as it reported there were no viruses or issues on my computer!

Getting Rid of the Thing
A search of "Norton Internet Security problems" on Google turned up a number of threads and discussions from people experiencing exactly the same problems I had. The consistent recommendation across the board? Get rid of Norton Internet Security completely and replace it with a different package!

The only problem was that people reported extreme issues removing their Norton products. Anti-virus programs can be tough to delete, because when you think about it, one of the things an actual virus is likely to do is attempt to delete or disable your virus software. Fortunately a Google of "Norton Removal Tool" brought me straight to a page at Symantec where you download another program just so you can uninstall Norton Anti-Virus. Apparently, failed installations and "damaged Norton products" are so common that they've had to put together a method to let users rid their computers of the scourge that is Norton Internet Security.

Ahh My Computer is now Virus Free Again!
After removing Norton Internet Security, my computer rebooted quickly and happily without any traces of the product left. The removal tool was configured to take me straight to a Symantec page where I could proceed with "reinstalling" my Norton products.

Umm, no thanks.

Cat's Bottom Line
Avoid Symantec's Norton Internet Security product like the plague. I wasted $70 on something that slowed down my system, caused my programs to stop running reliably, and killed my network connectivity, all in the name of protecting my computer from online threats. The only online threat this time was the Norton product itself. One star is far too generous for this product.